30 June 2024 , 17:04
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella thinks the clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris could have been avoided if the Dutchman had been adequately punished for past transgressions.
Things got heated between them towards the end of the Austrian Grand Prix. While defending from Norris, Verstappen was deemed to have caused the collision which saw both suffer a puncture and gifted the win to George Russell.
It was the sort of incident that regularly happened at the height of the bitter rivalry between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The Red Bull racer won his first championship that year, but only after several on-track flashpoints with his title rival.
One of the most notable saw Verstappen accused of brake-testing Hamilton in Saudi Arabia, the penultimate race of that season. A time penalty was given to him on that occasion but some felt it was not a strong enough deterrent.
And Stella said after Sunday's race in Austria that, had the Dutchman been given harsher punishments in the past, the sorry incident which ruined both his and Norris' races may not have happened.
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The Italian said: "The entire population of the world knows who was responsible except for a group of people. If you don't address these things honestly, they will come back. They weren't addressed properly in the past when there were fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way. Like this, you learn how to race in a certain way."
Verstappen was deemed to have been at fault for the collision at the Red Bull Ring and the stewards gave him a 10-second penalty. It proved somewhat inconsequential, considering he finished the race after a tyre change fifth on the road and with enough of a gap to Nico Hulkenberg behind that he didn't lose any places when that penalty was applied.
Andrea Stella was furious with Max Verstappen's actions which ended Lando Norris' race in Austria (Getty Images)Naturally, Stella felt it wasn't a harsh enough punishment considering the consequences it had on Norris' race. He added: "There were many episodes [with Hamilton]. We have so much respect for Red Bull, and for Max, that they don't need to do this.
"Almost compromise your reputation? Why would you do that? The stewards found Max was fully to blame in this episode. It's not about racing in a driver's way. It's about driving within the regulations.
"The regulations must be enforced in a way that is effective. When a car is out of the race, as a consequence, then the punishment needs to be proportionate to the outcome. Before this episode, twice he moved in braking. It is evident that we have to enforce the way to go racing."